Tacofino makes giving your liver a break a little easier with a January fundraiser

by Mike Usinger on January 3rd, 2024 at 4:33 PM

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Consider it a much-needed gift for those of us who see the holiday season as a green light to drink, well, everything every day, whether it’s Appleton Estate 8 Year Old Reserve-spiked eggnog, or Glendalough Irish Gin-powered negroni, where the wild botanicals add about five different delicious layers of complexity.

Dry January is when your liver gets a break—at least until you give up about 13 days in, for which no one with the possible exception of your long-suffering spouse, ready-for-therapy children, or endlessly exasperated employer can blame you.

Staying alcohol-free becomes something of a challenge when you love the taste of beer and cocktails first, and the resulting buzz second.

Good news, then, on the drinks-program front at Tacofino over the coming weeks, with an added bonus being that you’ll be able to do some good with your faux-imbibing.

From January 5 to 31, all five Vancouver locations of the ever-growing chain will not only be featuring Strange Fellow NEVERtheLESS Non-Alcoholic Pale Ale, and various mocktails, but donating two dollars from the sale of each to the Coast Mental Health Foundation.

In a release announcing the initiative, Coast Mental Health Foundation’s Isabela Zabava notes that a large number of British Columbians often turn to alcohol or other substances to help cope, and not just at Christmas.

“Approximately one in five British Columbians is experiencing mental illness or a substance use disorder today,” she says. “With support from businesses like Tacofino and Strange Fellows, Coast Mental Health Foundation provides programs and services that are critical in the recovery journey for folks living with mental illness and substance use disorders. We are grateful for Tacofino and Strange Fellows’ commitment to supporting community-based mental health initiatives.”

Also grateful for a program that will see Tacofino offer booze-free varieties of its favourites like Coconut Mint Collins, Tropical Lemonade, House Made Ginger Beer, or Virgin Pina Colada? That would be your poor liver. Which should be in something vaguely resembling fighting shape when you say, “enough of this goddamn nonsense” and get back on it 13 days from now.